Haven: Call of the King
| Haven: Call of the King | |
|---|---|
European cover art
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| Developer(s) | Traveller's Tales |
| Publisher(s) | Midway Games |
| Director(s) | Jon Burton |
| Producer(s) | Arthur Parsons |
| Designer(s) | Jon Burton |
| Programmer(s) | Dave Dootson |
| Artist(s) | Leon Warren |
| Writer(s) | Jon Burton |
| Composer(s) | Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Aggregate score | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 69/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Eurogamer | 7/10 |
| Game Revolution | C |
| GameSpot | 7.6/10 |
| GameSpy |    |
| IGN | 7.4/10 |
| OPM (US) | |
Haven: Call of the King is a 2002 multi-genre action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2. The game was also scheduled for release on the Xbox and GameCube, to be published by Xicat Interactive, but both versions were cancelled. A Game Boy Advance version was also planned, but never got beyond the earliest developmental stages.
Intended as the first part of a trilogy, Haven took over three years to develop, and combines action, platforming, puzzle, shoot 'em up, racing and space combat elements. Both Midway and Traveller's Tales championed Haven as a previously unseen type of game, wherein the player could jump seamlessly from genre to genre, with Midway trademarking the term "FreeFormer gameplay" to describe the mixture of gameplay styles.
Haven received mixed reviews, with the main complaint amongst critics being that it was too ambitious for its own good, producing multiple examples of average gameplay, but nothing outstanding. Although Midway launched a sizable advertising campaign to promote the game, calling it "the next major development in videogaming," it received relatively little media attention and was a considerable commercial failure. The two sequels were never made.
At its core, Haven: Call of the King is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective, with much of the gameplay based around platforming. During the main platforming levels, Haven can perform various basic abilities; jump, double jump, high jump, crouch and attack. Haven also has access to an energy shield which he can deploy in front of him to protect him from incoming projectiles. He can deploy the shield indefinitely if it is not absorbing any impacts, but when it does deflect objects, it begins to deplete. As well as deploying the shield in front of him, Haven can also crouch and completely cover himself with the shield. He can also use the shield to perform a "shield smash," which is necessary for killing certain enemies and accessing certain pots.
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Wikipedia